It may seem counterintuitive to say this about a team playing .222 ball, but the Nets’ season is going exceptionally well. New Jersey is in the early phases of a rebuilding effort, and the first few weeks have set the stage nicely for what needs to happen next: the return and subsequent trade of Jason Kidd.

Except for the first two home games, when they were blown out by a combined 55 points, the Nets have played hard against tough competition. That is best indicated by their improved defense: The Nets are limiting opponents to a .422 shooting percentage, sixth best in the NBA, and they’re holding the opposition to 92.8 points per game, eighth in the league. While a 64-60 win over Portland gets some of the credit for those stats, consider that the Nets have held the Dallas offensive machine to eight points under their season average and limited the then-red-hot Supersonics to 79 points, 20 below their usual total.

Of course, the Nets’ defensive energy has been completely offset by their inability to score. The New Jersey offense ranks dead last in the NBA at 81.4 points per game, a full four points worse than the 29th-ranked offense, Golden State. The team’s point guard play has been particularly bad; the Nets are last in assists, and they lead in the dubious category of turnovers per game with 19.

The return of Kidd in early December should bolster the offense considerably. In each of the past two seasons, the Nets have committed only 14 turnovers a game with Kidd at the helm, and he averaged 9.2 assists per game last year (no Nets guard has more than 3 apg this season). Kidd’s impact on the team will likely be dramatic, which should magnify his value as questions about his aging knees fade into the background.

These will be replaced by the question of who would trade for Kidd. The guard’s Hall of Fame credentials are airtight (check out the Hall of Fame monitor at www.basketballreference.com, which parallels a Bill James device in baseball), and at this point, he mostly wants another chance at a world championship. Also, the Oakland native has expressed a desire to return to the Western Conference.

The list of possible suitors isn’t long. Many teams are either capped out or set at point guard with talented young players like Carlos Arroyo in Utah or Tony Parker in San Antonio. Initial rumors had Kidd returning to Dallas, but the Mavs’ trade for Jason Terry and the early play of rookie point guard Devin Harris makes it unlikely that they will make any more changes.

There were also whispers that Kidd would accept a trade to his hometown Warriors, but they’re one of the few teams that figure to lose more games than the Nets. The Lakers are in dire need of better point play, but have few tradeable commodities that might interest the Nets (Lamar Odom would make a nice centerpiece, but it would weaken the already squishy Laker frontline). The most likely new teams for Kidd are the Timberwolves, Blazers, and Clippers.

Minnesota might seem like an unlikely destination after the T-Wolves’ breakout 2003-04 season, but Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell have demanded contract extensions and both are on the decline. The addition of Kidd would solidify the Wolves’ nucleus; the problem in the deal would be how to sweeten it for the Nets. New Jersey should demand more for Kidd than the off-season cap room that would result from expiring contracts, and Wally Szczerbiak, Minnesota’s other trading chip, plays the same position as Richard Jefferson.

Portland has often been mentioned as a destination for Kidd, and the Blazers have just the player to deal. Power forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim has a Kidd-sized contract that expires at season’s end. Since the team has committed to Darius Miles and Zach Randolph with contract extensions over the summer, Abdur-Rahim figures to be the odd man out in the Blazers’ crowded frontcourt. Rahim has been a good player on bad teams for most of his career. This might enable New Jersey to re-sign him in a cap-friendly deal, and make him a building block of the new Nets.

The most intriguing situation, though, is in Los Angeles. The Clippers have two young stars in Elton Brand and Corey Magette, but poor play at the point and the pivot did them in last year. So far this year, reserve power forward Chris Wilcox has been a force at center, and high school phenom Shaun Livingston has played decently at the point. If Clips owner Donald Sterling feels that last year’s center, Chris Kaman, will improve, then he has two players and some cap room to make this deal.

Sterling is notoriously tight-fisted, but he showed in the Kobe Bryant negotiations that he’ll spend money for a superstar. He might feel that a Kidd-Brand-Maggette nucleus would make the Clippers a perennial contender. The Nets, meanwhile, could get their hands on Wilcox and Livingston, two potential future starters.

The Kidd trade will be the defining moment of New Jersey’s season. The right deal, one that includes cornerstone players, could set them up for a quick turnaround. The wrong swap, one that earns the Nets nothing more than cap room, will lead to the Chicago-Atlanta treadmill of perpetual lotterydom. Kidd’s impending return should put the Nets in position to make a good deal.